Just Three Days
by Measer
Summary: Gary takes a couple days off with Chuck.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer-- I don't own the characters. I'm just borrowing them for some fun. No infringement is intended. No money is was or ever will be made from this.**

**Chapter 1**

"Gary! Good, you're just in time. Fred over there," Chuck pointed to a well dressed, clearly drunk, portly gentleman, who sat at the end of bar, "has given me tickets to tonight's Bull's game and they're court side. Gary are you listening to me...?"

"Uh... huh..." Gary sluggishly shuffled past Chuck and slumped down in a vacant booth.

"Come on. Get dressed," Chuck enthusiastically said, "let's go. The Bulls vs The Knicks. It's going to be great!"

"Uh... huh..." He put his elbows on the table and rested his head on his hands. It had been a long day, strenuous day and he was finally done. Finally home.

"Let's go, Gary. Tip off is in an two hours. I want to watch practice and get lots of snacks, and don't forget about the beer." Chuck beamed.

"Uh... huh..." He needed to take a moment. Just for a moment.

"You aren't listening..." Chuck frowned.

"Uh huh..." Gary just needed to close his eyes just for a second.

"I just said you weren't listening and you agreed with me..."

"Uh huh..."

"I sold the bar to three aliens and a midget for Pam Anderson's Baywatch bathing suit..."

"Uh huh..." He was just so, tired. He could just take a nap here, just for fifteen minutes. Then he could go upstairs, take a shower, find something to light to eat, then go to sleep. Just a short nap.

"Gary?" He was beginning to get worried. Chuck leaned in and said in his ear. "Gary, get up..."

Chuck shook Gary's arm lightly, and got no response. Chuck leaned in closer and realized that Gary was snoring lightly. Gary Hobson, his best friend, recipient of tomorrow's newspaper was sound asleep.

"Is he okay?" One of their employees asked.

"Yeah. He's fine." Chuck answered. "Give me that menu."

He grabbed a napkin and a pen off the bar and wrote something on the napkin in big bold letters, taped it to the menu. Chuck went back to the booth where Gary slept and wedged the menu between the ketchup and the salt & pepper shakers.

The sign read-- "KILLJOY! DO NOT DISTURB!"

It took a lot of coaxing, with a bit of bribery to get to get these tickets. The game had been sold out for months. This was suppose to be the game that would make or break the Bulls season and he had tickets.

Chuck sighed. He only wanted to go to the game if Gary went with him. His best friend needed time just relax and enjoy himself, even if just for a few hours, away from the chaos that tomorrow's paper brought. And this was just the thing, but Chuck didn't have the heart to wake him.

But, it also took a lot of time and effort to get these tickets and Chuck didn't want them to go to waste. So he did the next best thing.

"Does anyone want to buy tickets to tonight's Bulls game?!" Chuck yelled over the roar of the dinner rush. That of course, almost started a near riot.

* * *

"Meow..." Thump!

Chuck picked up tomorrow's paper as the cat angrily hissed at him.

"Don't get your fur in a bunch," Chuck told the cat. "I'm not going to look at it."

Chuck kept his promise. Instead, he rolled the paper up and smacked Gary, who was still sleeping with his head down on the table.

"Owww. wha. Whatayadoin!!" Gary groggily mumbled as he shot up. He groaned while he stretched his tired and aching muscles. It also didn't help that he had fallen asleep in that position and now had a crick in his neck from it.

"Because of you I missed a triple double..." Chuck tossed the paper onto the table. The Bulls, of course had won the game, slaughtering the poor Knicks.

"Me? What are you talking about?" Gary's stomach grumbled. He hadn't eaten anything since breakfast yesterday morning.

"The tickets I got from Fred."

"Tickets?" Gary picked up the paper and began to scan the headlines.

"Yesterday's game."

"Yesterday's game?"

"The game we were suppose to go to. Remember you called around 4:30 and said you would go with me if I got tickets..."

"Oh, that game..."

"That game? That game is being hailed as _**the game**_ of the season. Their calling it history. History ..."

Chuck continued to rant, but Gary wasn't listening. He was too engrossed in reading tomorrow's paper. From the headlines, it looked like it was going to be a long day. Gary looked down at his watch. He had to be across town by 7:45 to save a pedestrian from getting hit by a car. That gave him enough time to take a quick shower and a hopefully a cup of coffee before he had to rush out.

"... then he dunked on him. Broke the backboard and everything..."

"Chuck, I've got to go." Gary cut him off.

"Hey, I'm not done..."

_**TBC**_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**

* * *

**

"Meorwww..." Thump...

****Wap!****

"Ow... Chuck! Stop..."

Gary glared at him from the spot he had just awoke, a table in the middle of the bar. He remembered stumbling in late that night, after the bar was close ,grabbing a cold drink from the fridge, and sitting down, then everything after that was a bit fuzzy.

"You need to stop falling asleep in the bar..." Chuck scolded

The paper seemed to go from hectic to chaotic in a matter of days. Gary felt run down, but he couldn't just stop. People depended on him.

"You know people are starting to talk..." Chuck continued.

"People?"

"Well no..."

Gary snatched the paper out of Chuck's hands. "I'm going upstairs..."

"Morning, Chuck. Morning, Gary..." Marissa said as she entered the bar.

"Marissa." Gary shuffled past her and headed towards his loft.

Chuck poured two cups of coffee and handed one of them to Marissa.

"Marissa, you got to talk to him. He's running himself ragged."

"I'm sure he's fine. He's probably just a little tired." Marissa tried to assure him.

"Tired is an understatement. He's been sleeping down here in the bar, because he doesn't have the energy to make it upstairs."

"He said that?"

"Well, no. I've seen it. Why else would he be sleeping down here? Marissa I'm beginning to get worried."

Marissa frowned but didn't answer Chuck, but made a mental not to speak to Gary when he came back from his errands.

* * *

"Meow..." Thump!

Chuck snuck behind Gary, who had fallen asleep in the office. He rolled up the paper and was about to swing-

"Hit me with the paper and I will hurt you..."

"My, my you're awfully cranky this morning." Chuck lowered his arm and tossed the paper into the garbage can.

"I'm tired... and you woke me up." Gary glared at him and reached into the trash and picked the paper up.

"That's why you should take sometime off. Beside, you shouldn't sleep in the office. At least you made it past the bar this time."

"Chuck, I can't. This isn't up for debate."

Gary flipped though the paper. I was going to be another early start and another crazy day. He was tired, but didn't not want to admit it.

"Chuck, I got to go." He had enough time to grab a quick shower and a cup of coffee before he needed to head out.

"Gary wait. Why don't you take the morning off, and let me handle the paper?" Chuck offered. "I'm not saying that I handle the whole day. How about until noon-ish, maybe one. That way you can get some rest."

That really sounded appealing, but Gary remembered something. "Don't you have to go to the doctor this morning?"

Chuck smacked himself in the head. He'd completely forgot that he had his yearly physical today. "I can reschedule."

"And your doctor will kill you."

Gary was right. He had rescheduled his physical several times, giving his doctor the most far fetched excuses. Chuck's doctor had called him yesterday and had threatened to drug and drag him to the office if he didn't come in today. Chuck would never admit it out loud, but he was actually afraid that his doctor might actually do it.

"She can kill me, this is more important." Chuck said.

Gary smiled. "Thanks buddy, but I'm going to take a rain check on that."

"Gary..."

"Chuck I'll talk to you later." Gary grabbed his jacked and headed upstairs.

* * *

Gary shuffled into the bar with an awkward gait. He had lost one of his sneakers during a rescue and had stopped at home to grab a new pair of shoes and something to eat. Rushing out early was finally catching up to him, he had skipped breakfast and lunch, and was now famished.

"Gary!" Chuck stood from the bar stool he was sitting on with a sandwich in his hand. He weaved through the bar's tables and patrons, and grabbed Gary's arm before he could get away. "I've got it. How about you and me just get away. Not too long. Just a week of fun."

"I just can't just take off Chuck. I have responsibilities to this," he pointed to the paper in his hand. "I just can't, people need me."

"I know about responsibility. What about the responsibility to yourself," Chuck argued. "If you keep running around like this you'll burn yourself out."

"I can't talk about this now."

"Can't or won't?"

"I've gotta go. I'll see you later."

Gary grabbed the sandwich, then headed up toward the loft.

"Hey...!"

**

* * *

TBC**

**Read and Review!**

**Sorry about the delay in updating. I've got chapter 3 already written I just need to proofread it.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"Hey Gar, remember when we were 13 and Bernie took us fishing..."

"Yeah, that was fun, but if I remember correctly, you did nothing but complain when we got there. The bait smelt fishy, the sun's too hot..."

"Or how about the time in college when we spent spring break in Miami..."

"...And you gave your self alcohol poisoning..."

"Why must you always bring up the negativity of things..."

"Look Chuck, I don't have time for this, I have to go..." He still had some time to get to his next rescue, he just didn't feel like arguing. That's what it seemed like he and Chuck did for the last couple of days.

"Oh sure run off. Leave. Go do something else..."

"It's not that I don't want to spend time with you..."

"Run off..."

"I still don't have time for this, Chuck. If I don't do this people will get hurt or worse..." Gary said trying to argue is point. "Marissa you understand, right?"

"Marissa you agree with me, right?" Chuck asked.

Marissa listened to the two argue about this all week. She really didn't want to take sides on this, but it looked as if she now had no choice.

"Sorry Gary, but I agree with Chuck. If you keep up this frenetic pace that you've been keeping for the last couple weeks, you'll make yourself sick."

"See I told you Marissa agrees with me... " Gary stated.

"You never agree with me. I think you have it against me..." Chuck started at the same time.

They both stopped and turned to Marissa and said "Wait... What?"

"Oh great, not you too," Gary said, exasperated. "So, what about the paper?"

"Leave it," Chuck said. "The world won't fall apart without your intervention for a couple days."

That thought didn't put Gary's mind at ease. It only made him feel guiltier.

"No! I got it, let Bernie and Lois handle it." Chuck said.

"My parents? I can't just dump it on them, Chuck," Gary said.

"Dump it on them? I don't think they would see it that way, Gar." Chuck ran behind the bar. "I'm sure they won't see it that way!"

"What are you doing?" Gary asked.

"Calling your parents," Chuck said quickly as he picked up the phone from it's cradle and dialed the number. "I thought you had to go..."

"Don't do that!" Gary yelled running towards him. "Hang up! I haven't agreed to anything yet."

"I'm not going to hang up... " Chuck said trying to dodge Gary, who was trying his hardest to get the phone. "You need a break... it's for your own goo..." He accidentally backed himself into a corner. Luckily, Gary's mom answered the phone. "Good Morning Lois, it's Chuck."

Gary was about to pull the phone away from Chuck, but stopped when Lois answered the phone. "Oh great..." he muttered to himself.

"I'm fine... no... yeah... nothing's wrong, everything's good..." Chuck said into the phone.

Gary sat on a stool and glared at Chuck from across the bar.

"No... Gary? There's nothing wrong with him. He right here... Actually he wants to ask you something but he's being shy about it so, I'll ask you. Can you and Bernie possibly take the paper off his hands for one weekend? A long weekend, just three days..."

Gary shook his head in disbelief. Chuck actually called his parents.

"No... this isn't about a girl... I know I'm sorry to hear that too... It's for a guy's getaway weekend... uh... huh... yeah.. You and Bernie would love to... this weekend? I'm sure that's fine... you'll be here on Friday? Oh... Thursday night? Thursday afternoon? Okay I'll tell him... yeah good bye Lois." Chuck hung up the phone.

Maybe he needed a break. For once Chuck and Marissa actually agreed on something. That in itself was rare. He was also curious to what Chuck had in mind. Knowing him it probably included scantily clad women on some tropical beach. The tropical beach part did appeal to him. He turned his attention back to Chuck, and waited. Once Chuck hung up the phone, Gary would tell him yes.

"There, now you don't have to worry about the paper," Chuck said still standing a good distance away from Gary.

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"Yeah, okay. So, where are we going?"

Chuck stood there excitedly dumbfounded. He hadn't actually planned anything. He never thought Gary would say yes, at least without a fight.

"You don't have anything planned, do you?"

"Not a thing. I guess I'll call your mother and tell her to forget the whole thing," Chuck said clearly disappointed. Why couldn't he have had something planned just in case Gary ever said yes.

"Don't do that. I've got something in mind." Gary looked down at his watch. He need to be at a convince store robbery in twenty minutes. If he didn't leave now, he would never make it. "I'll tell you when I get back."

***TBC***

**Read and review! The story is going to be about 10 chapters long. :) **


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"Okay, do you have everything for your trip?" Lois asked as she, Gary and Bernie stood outside the bar. Chuck was already in the van fiddling with the radio.

"Are you sure you don't want to take the Gray Ghost with you? It has all the gear you need in it and everything," Bernie asked his son. "The propane tanks are full. I just filled them before we left for Chicago. You could put all your stuff into the truck and then your off. It wouldn't take more than twenty minutes."

"That would take all the fun out it. I packed everything we need," Gary said. "We shouldn't need anything else."

"You boys should get going then." Bernie said.

"And if you run into any trouble, call Crumb. I'm sure he can help," Gary interjected.

"Don't worry. We can handle it. Have a little faith in us, we're your parents," Bernie said. "We can handle whatever the paper throws at us. No problem."

"Don't worry, honey. I'll keep your father out of trouble." Lois gave her son a kiss on the cheek.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Bernie inquired.

Lois ignored her husband and continued to address her son. "Now Gary you and Chuck keep warm while your out there. It gets very cold during the night."

"Mom, I'm not twelve," Gary said which prompted an annoyed look from his mother. He sighed to himself. No matter how old he was, his parents would probably still treat him like a child. "Don't worry, Mom. I'll bundle up."

Chuck poked his head out the passenger side window and cleared his throat. If they didn't leave soon they would hit traffic from the morning commute. He missed just hanging around with his best friend. With both their busy schedules they haven't had much time to do that. At least it worked out this weekend, Gary's parents handling the paper and McGinty's being closed for some minor renovation. "Gar, come on let's go!"

Gary hugged his dad, then his mother and handed her the paper. "Be careful..."

"We will." Bernie replied.

Gary hurried over to the driver's side and got into the car. "Alright let's go."

"Are you going to tell me where exactly we are going?" Chucked asked.

"Nope." Gary smiled and started the car. "You brought those things I told you to bring, comfortable shoes and clothing."

"Yes. I put them in the back of the van while you were talking to Bernie and Lois."

"Good."

"Have fun boys," Lois yelled as the McGinty's van pulled away.

"So what do we do first? What does the paper say?" Bernie asked enthusiastically.

"They haven't even gotten down the block, Bernie."

"I know, I know. I just want to get a jump on things. People to save. Disasters to prevent."

* * *

Bernie and Lois sat in a corner booth eating breakfast. It was still fairly early and they were trying to plan out their day.

"Nothing?"

"Yes, Bernie, nothing..."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes Bernie, I'm sure. Unless you want to go to City Hall and watch the budget planning committee. Or the new exhibit at the Art Institute?"

"Let me see that thing." Bernie frowned. He was here for an adventure. There had to be something in the paper that they could do. Someone they could save.

"What? You don't believe me?" Lois asked.

"I do, but I want to be absolutely positively sure."

"Because you don't believe me..."

"I do, honey, I do. I just don't want anyone getting hurt."

"Here." She slid the paper across the table to him and waited as he flipped through it. "See."

Bernie flipped through each and every page of the paper, read each and every headline, skimmed each and every article.

And found nothing.

"Nothing." Bernie sulked.

"Must have been a slow news day."

* * *

***TBC***

**Sigh... I've learned my lesson. I'm never going to post a WIP again. The whole story is plotted out and I know what's going to happen, but I like writing out of order too much, lol. I've got most of chapters 5 and chapter 8 done. Not so much with chapters 6 and chapter 7.**

**I wonder when season three is coming out on DVD... Not that I want season three (bleh Erica), that means its a shorter wait until season four :D. **

**I want to watch "Run Gary Run"...**


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